2016 TELUS Cup

BOBCATS ERASE THREE-GOAL DEFICIT TO EARN POINT AGAINST VITO’S

DAVID BRIEN

QUISPAMSIS, N.B. – Logan Ganie tied the game with 4:02 to go, finishing off a comeback from a three-goal deficit and giving the Lloydminster Bobcats a 3-3 tie with the Saint John Vito’s in Tuesday night’s tilt at the 2016 TELUS Cup.

Saint John held a 3-0 lead after Kyle Anderson scored 98 seconds into the second period, but the Bobcats battled back to avoid losing consecutive games for the first time all season.

Ganie made sure the Pacific Region champions earned a single point, getting a wrist shot through traffic and past Saint John goaltender Jake Stewart on the Bobcats’ 44th shot on goal.

Despite not getting the win, Stewart stole the show, making 42 saves, half of those in the first period; Lloydminster dominated the shots on goal, holding a lopsided 45-14 advantage.

The Bobcats carried the play in the opening 20 minutes, outshooting Saint John 21-6, but it was the tournament hosts who took a two-goal lead to the intermission.

The loud crowd at the qplex had the Vito’s going early, and they were rewarded with a power-play goal just 2:56 in; after a point shot made its way through traffic, Ben Reid knocked the rebound past Bobcats netminder Austin McGrath.

It was 2-0 just one second shy of the 11-minute mark after Ian Keating won an offensive-zone face-off to Anderson, whose shot was tipped in by Will Kelly.

Saint John’s sharpshooters struck again early in the second period; Anderson skated in from the blue-line and buried a cross-ice feed from MacDonald on another Vito’s power play.

But that was it for Saint John offence, and Tre Doyon got the comeback started at 13:51 of the middle frame, taking advantage of a turnover at the Vito’s blue-line and beating Stewart on a shorthanded breakaway.

Down 3-1 on the scoreboard but up 33-11 in shots entering the third period, the momentum was swinging in favour of the Bobcats, and Jaxan Kaluski carried the puck into the offensive zone and beat Stewart under the glove at 8:45 to make it a one-goal game, setting up Ganie’s late marker.

Lloydminster will continue chasing its first win on Wednesday afternoon in an all-Prairies showdown against the Saskatoon Contacts (4 p.m. AT), while Saint John faces the unbeaten North York Rangers in the day’s late game (7:30 p.m. AT).